BOUTELLE NOYES, LT, USN

Boutelle Noyes '68

Date of birth: January 10, 1848

Age: 35

Naval Academy Register

Boutelle Noyes was admitted to the Naval Academy from Virginia on September 26, 1864 at age 16 years 8 months.

Naval Academy Photo Album

Prior to the publication of the Lucky Bag in 1894, most portraits of officers and midshipmen of the Naval Academy were captured in yearly photo albums. The album for 1868 is available in the collections of the Naval Academy's Digital Collections.

Special thank you to historian Kathy Franz for identifying this resource and then extracting several dozen photographs for this site.

Prior to the publication of the Lucky Bag in 1894, most portraits of officers and midshipmen of the Naval Academy were captured in yearly photo albums. The album for 1868 is available in the collections of the Naval Academy's Digital Collections.

Special thank you to historian Kathy Franz for identifying this resource and then extracting several dozen photographs for this site.

Loss

Boutelle was lost on August 29, 1883 when a mast fell on him while aboard USS Richmond (1860).

Other Information

From Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute, 1884:

Lieutenant Boutelle Noyes. Born, Maine, January 10, 1848. Appointed a Midshipman, September 26, 1864, and graduated from the Naval Academy, June 2, 1868. September 3, 1868, ordered to the Guerriere. July 31, 1869, was detached from Guerriere and ordered home, August 16, 1869, commissioned an Ensign from April 19, 1869. September 10, 1869, granted permission to proceed to Europe to join the European Squadron, and was assigned to duty on board the Plymouth. Later he was transferred to the Juniata. July 12, 1870, commissioned a Master. July 1, 1872, detached from the Juniata, and ordered to report on September 1, at Newport, R. I., for Torpedo Instruction. February 14, 1873, commissioned a Lieutenant. June 30, 1873, detached from the Torpedo Station and placed on waiting orders. August 15, 1873, was ordered to the Flagship Pensacola, on the Pacific Station. Served on the Richmond, same station. October 20, 1876, was detached from the Richmond and placed on sick leave. From November 9, 1877 to February 15, 1881, served on board the training ship Minnesota. August 1, 1881, was ordered to take passage in the Powhatan, on the 15th inst., for Aspinwall to join the Richmond, and reported on that vessel September 30 following. He was killed on board the Richmond, at Yokohama, Japan, on August 29, 1883, by the falling of the foretop-gallantmast while exercising with spars. Sea service, eleven years, eight months; shore duty, four years, seven months; total service, eighteen years, six months.

From records of the US Naval Academy Graduates’ Association:

BOUTELLE NOYES, Graduate No. 825.
Sea service, 12 years, 1 month; shore duty, 4 years, 7 months; unemployed, 2 years, 3 months; in service, 18 years, 11 months.
Boutelle Noyes was born, January 10, 1848, in Waterville, Maine. His father was Edwin Noyes, who resided in Waterville until the time of his death, in 1888, His mother was Miss Helen Rogers Boutelle. Noyes entered the Naval Academy at Newport, September 26, 1864, and graduated in 1868. His first sea-duty as a Midshipman was on the South Atlantic Station, on board the flagship Guerriére, in which vessel he served until July, 1869.
His later service was: Juniata, on Mediterranean Station, November, 1869, to July, 1872; Torpedo School, September, 1872, to July, 1873; Pensacola, September, 1873; transferred to the Richmond, in which he served till October 20, 1876, when he was transferred to a hospital in Valparaiso; returned home in February, 1877; training ship Minnesota, November, 1877, to February, 1881; took passage in the Powhatan, August 15, 1881, and joined the Richmond at Panama, September, 1881, for duty on Asiatic Station. He was promoted to the grade of Ensign, April 19, 1869; Master, July 12, 1870; Lieutenant, February 14, 1873. In June, 1879, Noyes married Miss Charlotte Bleecker Luce, daughter of Rear-Admiral S. B. Luce. While on board the Richmond, in the harbor of Yokohama, August 29, 1883, at general exercise, he was struck by a falling topgallant-mast and instantly killed. His remains were brought to the United States and are buried in Waterville. His widow and two children survive him.
Boutelle Noyes was one of the best young officers of the service. He was deeply interested in his profession, believed in it, was devoted to it. In the old Navy he would have been called a smart officer; in the new Navy he was a progressive one. Upon whatever professional work he engaged he was enthusiastic in its discharge. He was always popular in every ship in which he served, and identified himself closely with the exercises and sports of its men. He was active, zealous, intelligent, and extremely well informed in every branch of his profession, and his death was mourned by all naval officers with whom he had served, and whose respect and esteem he had enjoyed to a rare degree. R. P. Rodgers

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Boutelle married Charlotte Luce on June 25, 1879, at the Church of the Advent in Boston. Their sons both served in World War I: Robert in the Navy and Stephen in the Army Air Service. Charlotte was the daughter of Rear Admiral Stephen Bleecker Luce (Class of 1847.)
In August 1881, Boutelle received orders to take passage from New York on USS Powhatan for Aspinwall. He would then go to Panama to join USS Richmond for a three years' cruise on the coasts of China and Japan.
Boutelle's father Edwin was a lawyer and ex-superintendent of the Maine Central railroad.
The Noyes' lineage dates back to 1634 when James and wife Sarah Noyes came from England to Medford, Massachusetts.

He is buried in Maine.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.